Chicago's HighTower has added former Merrill man David Nelson as a private wealth advisor within its Pagnato-Karp group, based in Washington, DC.

The Pagnato-Karp group provides wealth management services, including portfolio strategies and financial planning solutions. Nelson, who was most recently a financial advisor at Merrill Lynch, will advise high net worth individuals and their families, including entrepreneurs.

Over the last decade, Nelson was a member of Merrill Lynch’s global wealth management group in Washington, specializing in financial planning, portfolio design, and investment management for ultra high net worth families and institutional clients.

HighTower is an advisor-owned firm that specializes in HNW and institutional clients, with headquarters in Chicago and corporate bases in New York and San Francisco. Last month, it launched the HighTower Network and HighTower Alliance, offering breakaway brokers and independent advisors a customized set of services with which to serve their clients.

Earlier, the firm announced that two former Merrill Lynch advisory teams, Anderson & Delutri and the MNA Group, had joined its partnership, operating from the firm’s new office in Las Vegas, NV.

The principals of Anderson & Delutri – Hugh Anderson and Sheila Delutri – each spent over 30 years at Merrill Lynch prior to joining HighTower. They manage $450 million in assets. Meanwhile, the principals of MNA Group – Mike PeQueen, Ned Evans and Adam Thurgood – have a combined 60 years of experience in the financial services industry. The team - also of Merrill - manages $340 million in assets and primarily serves clients with between $2 and $5 million in investable assets.